Best Innovations

25 Best Innovations
Past 25 Years
The
of the
Imagine a woodworking
world without portable
planers, one-handed bar
clamps, and Norm Abram.
That was the landscape
when WOOD® magazine
made its debut in 1984.
Looking back on the past
quarter century, our editors
came up with a list of the
greatest breakthroughs since
then. Agree or disagree,
here it is.
Ryobi benchtop planer
Prior to the mid-’80s, if you had a thickness planer it ran on 220 volts,
used resharpenable steel knives, and weighed about a half ton.
But Ryobi’s AP-10 benchtop planer, launched in 1985, changed
everything. It brought power planing to the masses in a portable,
affordable, 110-volt machine. And it gave many hobby woodworkers
their first opportunity to work with rough-sawn hardwoods. A few
years later Makita introduced self-indexing disposable steel knives,
eliminating the hassles of sharpening and resetting knives.
Quick-Grip clamps
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Nebraska boat-builder Joe Sorensen needed a third hand to hold assemblies during glue-ups, so he came up with a one-handed bar clamp
that today we know as the Quick-Grip clamp. Joe sold his invention
to a manufacturer whose brands were eventually acquired by Irwin
Industrial Tools. The clamps debuted in 1989 to the delight of countless
woodworkers, and spawned legions of similar clamps.
Products that broke new ground in woodworking
Whether invented out of necessity or simply the result of someone’s search for a
better mousetrap, these tools and accessories made landmark impacts on the world
of woodworking.
Tenon
SawStop
brake
SawStop’s aluminum blade-brake pawl
stopped this blade as promised when
we purposely triggered it with a hot
dog to replicate a finger.
SawStop tablesaw
Doing for tablesaws what airbags did for cars,
SawStop could be the single greatest safety device in woodworking. Full-time patent attorney
and part-time woodworker Steve Gass came
up with the idea of making a safer saw in 2000
after his father caught his hand in a blade. Gass
invented a blade brake, activated by skin contact,
that stops a spinning blade in 1⁄200 of a second,
leaving the victim with only a scratch. There are
17,000 models in use today, with more than 500
confirmed “finger saves,” according to Gass.
Nova four-jaw lathe chuck
The inspiration was surpisingly simple: With the
ability to move machines around, woodworkers
could make better use of smaller shop space and
dust-collection hook-ups. So Tim Hewitt welded
together angle-iron steel frames to match the
footprints of heavy machines, added casters,
and voila! Word spread quickly, and his mobile
bases proved so popular that he couldn’t meet
consumer demand making each one by hand, so
in 1984 the Hewitt Tool Company (HTC) went
into mass production.
Square-jawed lathe chucks had been around for
decades in metalworking, but in 1988 Teknatool
introduced a self-centering four-jaw chuck with
circular jaws, and that style has since become
the standard in woodturning. The Nova chuck
enabled turners to hold—and then shape—a
wood blank by tightening the jaws around a
simple tenon, which they cut off after finishing
the bowl. It also featured an innovative removable screw in the center of the chuck, used to
mount the piece initially while you turned the
tenon—no need for a faceplate. Providing a
secure method to hold stock without faceplates
and invasive screws, four-jaw chucks have played
a large role in the growth of bowl, platter, and
hollow-vessel turning.
JessEm router lift
Leigh dovetail jig
HTC mobile tool bases
Titebond II & III glues
In 1991 Franklin International debuted the first
one-part, water-resistant wood glue that cleaned
up with water and
met the American
National Standards
Institute (ANSI)
requirements
for Type 2 water
resistance. Readyto-use Titebond II
was a huge hit with
woodworkers because it was the first
yellow wood glue
suitable for outdoor
projects. Then in
2004, Franklin International topped
itself with the
launch of Titebond III, the first one-part wood
glue to achieve ANSI Type 1 water resistance, the
highest level possible. Both formulas remain the
same today.
woodmagazine.com
With the rise in using router tables in home shops
during the 1990s, Canadian Darrin Smith longed
for a table with the precise height adjustments of
a shaper. So, in 1999 he introduced the JessEm
Rout-R-Lift, the first mechanism that enabled
woodworkers to adjust bit height from above the
table. His invention spawned an entirely new accessory category—router lifts—that now boasts
more than a dozen models in various brands, as
well as routers with built-in lift mechanisms.
It wasn’t the first dovetail jig for routers, but the
Leigh Industries D1258, created in 1984, was the
first do-it-all, adjustable jig. While previous jigs
(including one from Leigh) offered the ability to
rout either through or half-blind dovetails, the
D1258 enabled users to rout both types on the
same unit. It also featured adjustable guide fingers for varying the width of pins and tails. Later
models added the ability to rout sliding dovetails
and box joints.
3
Hitachi sliding
compound
mitersaw
When Hitachi debuted the
first sliding mitersaw in
1988, few people realized it
also marked the unofficial
retirement of radial-arm
saws. The model C8FB
sported an 8½" blade and
a direct-drive universal
motor that slid forward and
back on rails for crosscut
capacity nearly double that
of standard compound mitersaws of the time. “Sliders”
became popular with woodworkers who couldn’t afford
a radial-arm saw, and their
lightweight portability made
them easy to transport to
jobsites. Later, manufacturers
increased blade sizes to 10"
and 12", all but replacing the
8½" slider.
Kreg pocket-hole jig
2008 model,
20th anniversary edition
Festool Domino Joiner
Invented by a German engineer searching for a way to combine a biscuit
joiner’s speed and ease of use with the strength of a mortise-and-tenon
joint, the Domino made it possible to quickly, cleanly, and accurately bore
mortises for loose tenons. Launched in 2005 by Festool, the Domino carries
a $775 price tag for its one-of-a-kind ingenuity.
While building kitchen cabinets for his Iowa
home in 1986, tool-and-die maker Craig
Sommerfeld fashioned a metal jig and stepped
drill bit to bore angled holes into the back side of
face frames. He then joined the frame members
with pan-head screws driven into the hidden
pockets. Craig’s jig soon became the Kreg
Jig. The easy, affordable, and effective joinery
method enabled legions of woodworkers to
build furniture, cabinets, and other projects for
their homes without need for more complicated
techniques and tools.
SketchUp design software
Until about five years ago, you either drew your project plans on paper,
found them in magazines, or created them with expensive computer
software. Then along came Google’s free SketchUp software, a modeling
program for creating three-dimensional virtual projects you can disassemble and view from any angle, or in a variety of wood species.
They’re not tools, but they help woodworkers grow
Not all woodworking innovation has taken place in manufacturing. Growth in educational
materials and greater availability of tools and supplies has had as great an impact.
s
and Garden
Better Homes
Woodworking
Pa F
tt ul
er lnS Siz
in e
Sid
e
Resource
Meet Norm!
The World’s Leading
and Tricks from
Learn 29 Tips Woodworker p.40
America’s
■ Super-Simple
Table p.32
■ Arts and Crafts
■ Music Box p.49
p.56
■ Printer Stand
p.68
■ Wall-hung Shelf
▲
cts!
Great Proje
Router Table
p.62
5
The Internet
Gotta-have
Hand Tools p.54
Test reports:
The NEW Unisaw
p.36
Rail-guided Saws
p.76
Substitute Woods
p.60
You Should Try
The Easiest Way
to Cut Tapered
Legs p.22
NORM!—and various
educational materials
There’s no question The New Yankee Workshop
and its host, Norm Abram, have, for the past
20 years, inspired countless people to take up
woodworking. In addition, woodworking magazines, books, and videos (WOOD’s Jim Heavey,
above) have exploded in number and availability.
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Home center expansion
So-called “big box” retailers, found seemingly
on every corner, make it possible to get nearly all
your project supplies in one place, and at prices
typically less than you’ll find in specialty retailers.
Before about 1995, woodworkers had few
resources for immediate help with their questions. Now, that assistance is as close as your
computer, thanks to Internet forums and Web
sites. You can even choose from thousands of
project plans online. And the growth of Web
retailers has driven down the price of tools and
products, making it easier for beginners (“newbies” on the net) to get into woodworking, and
for veterans to expand their arsenals.
WOOD magazine
October 2009
Pro tools made affordable for the home shop
Although the following tools and machines were not the first of their kind, manufacturers’ ability to bring them to market at significantly lower prices created
meaningful opportunities for cash-conscious woodworkers.
Delta benchtop mortiser
Performax drum sander
Prior to the mid-’80s, only professional shops had wide-panel drum sanders, which typically cost a few
thousand dollars. But in 1984, Performax created an affordable drum sanding attachment for radialarm saws. Then, in 1993, the fledgling company introduced its innovative 16-32 open-ended drum
sander for about $500, giving the average woodworker the ability to sand surfaces as wide as 32".
The brand was eventually sold to Walter Meier Holding Company, the owner of the Powermatic and
Jet brands, among others.
Porter-Cable pneumatic nailers
Air-powered brad nailers, pinners, and narrow-crown staplers, popularized in large part by Norm Abram on The New Yankee Workshop, have
found a home in most
workshops thanks to their
quick convenience. Originally, pneumatics were
made for professional contractors and assembly-line
manufacturers. Then, in
1995, Porter-Cable began
importing more affordable
nailers from Taiwan. Since
then, nailers and fasteners
have become even more
affordable, selling in kits
with compact air compressors, typically for about
$300 or less.
Powered hollow-chisel mortisers had been
around for decades, but if you wanted one you
had to shell out big bucks for a floor-standing
unit. Benchtop mortisers arrived on the scene in
the mid-’80s under the Delta name but manufactured by Multico, an English company. Several
years later Delta switched to a similar unit imported from Taiwan, selling for about $200—less
than half the price of the English version.
Improved Asian-made tools
Woodworking machines have been manufactured in Taiwan for much longer than 25 years,
but until about the mid-’90s the quality of many
of these tools lagged behind those made in the
United States, Canada, and Europe. As quality
control improved, so did the tools, and more
manufacturing shifted to Taiwan and then China.
Today, those countries dominate the making of
woodworking machinery.
Porter-Cable
biscuit joiner
Lamello introduced the portable biscuit
joiner in the late ’60s, but at a price ($400
to $600) beyond the reach of most homeshop woodworkers. Then, in
1987, Porter-Cable came out
with its model 555 biscuit
joiner that sold for less than
half the price of the Lamello,
dawning a new era in quick,
affordable joinery.
woodmagazine.com
5
Product evolutions that changed woodworking
Although the following types of products existed prior to 1984, evolution within
each category has resulted in higher quality, accuracy, and safety for all of us.
2008 model
1985 model
Cordless tools
The earliest battery-powered drills in the 1970s
were bulky and featured low-voltage batteries,
but still seemed like a godsend because they had
no power cord. Over the past 25 years manufacturers have boosted power significantly while
cutting charge times and weight. They’ve also
added keyless chucks and adjustable clutches,
ergonomic designs, and other battery-powered
tools, such as circular saws, reciprocating saws,
jigsaws, and impact drivers.
Carbide cutting edges
Improved dust collection
As we became more informed of the health risks of breathing wood dust, manufacturers kept pace.
They introduced affordable dust collectors, cyclones, and tool-triggered vacuums that not only sucked
up the dust at the source, but also kept it contained with ultrafine filters. And tool manufacturers have
placed greater emphasis on channeling dust into ports for those machines to better collect it.
User-friendly finishes
Responding to tighter regulatory restrictions,
finish manufacturers began making more
environmentally friendly products, such as
water-based topcoats and stains, that also clean
up easily. They also launched products—water
and oil-based—that made finishing projects
easier and more foolproof: gel stains, wipe-on
polyurethanes, and oil-and-varnish blends.
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Although manufacturers offered carbide-tipped
saw blades and router bits beginning in the late
’70s, it wasn’t until the late ’80s that carbide came
into widespread use. With edges that stay sharp
about 10 times longer than steel, it’s rare now to
find saw blades and router bits without carbide
tips. Today, many jointers and planers feature
cutterheads with replaceable carbide inserts.
Hyper-accurate rip fences and miter gauges
For more than 50 years tablesaws came with ho-hum rip fences and run-of-the-mill miter gauges
that proved unreliable. When the Biesemeyer T-square-style rip fence was introduced in the late
’70s, its accuracy, ease of use, and popularity set the standard. Since the mid-’90s, the majority of
tablesaw manufacturers have incuded this type of fence as standard equipment on all but the most
basic machines. As for the miter gauges, most saws come with a bare-bones model with only three
preset stops. That’s why in 1988 JDS launched its Accu-Miter gauge that boasted accuracy to 1⁄30 °,
and featured a telescoping fence and flip stop. You can now find more than a dozen such aftermarWritten by Bob Hunter
ket miter gauges, ranging from about $50 to nearly $300.
WOOD magazine
October 2009
woodmagazine.com
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